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This year will be the year when Virtual Reality (VR) gaming is reintroduced. This time however, it’s not going to be a 1992 ‘Lawn Mower Man’ film version but an actual attempt to introduce a mass market VR headset.

There are two main contenders so far, Oculus Rift and Sony VR.
The main difference between the two is that Oculus Rift has been engineered for Windows PC & Sony VR has been made for (you guessed it) the PlayStation 4 console.

The Oculus Rift retails at $840 (Aus.) and includes headset, sensor, remote, cables and Xbox One controller. In addition the Oculus Rift also requires a compatible level of hardware above most normal PC’s to run it, with an expected $1,200 upwards cost to meet the required specification level.

Pre-orders are now available (1 per customer), with an expected shipment date sometime in the second quarter of this year (2016).

The PS4 VR will retail for $549.95 (Aus.). It is the only plug and play version with an included processer to give the PS4 the added juice to run Sony’s version. But wait, there is a catch; it also requires the PlayStation camera at an additional cost of $89.95. This will take the actual cost of the PS4 VR to $639.90.

Pre-orders for the PS4 VR are also now available (1 per customer) with a confirmed release date of October this year (2016).

Both VR options are a reasonably large investment of clams, with a bit of smoke and mirrors in both of their pricing. I can only assume that both suppliers must really think they are on to a game changer. We can only wait and see, in virtual reality…